Hogwarts Express was the most beautiful thing Ophelia had ever seen. Standing in front of the beautiful train with families rushing around, owls squawking and cats flitting in between legs, it truly made Hogwarts feel real. In a few hours, she would be at Hogwarts learning about magic.
"Move it!" A voice snarled. Ophelia barely had time to move herself and her cart full of magical supplies before three girls marched past.
Ophelia's eyes were wide as she observed the three. They were all incredibly beautiful with rich, noble features and all had sharp silvery-gray eyes. The oldest of them had wildly curly black hair, wore fancy silver robes and held a long wand in her hand. The middle looked more subdued. Her hair was a rich chocolate brown and was pinned up gently. She also wore silver robes but it was lined in emerald green. The last girl, who shot Ophelia a nasty grin, looked to be her own and had fine silver-blonde hair and waved a short wand threateningly towards Ophelia.
Ophelia couldn't help but notice the emerald green snakes that embroidered their robes and remembered James' words: "Bunch of Death Eaters." She shuddered.
Shaking off that fear, Ophelia pushed her cart forward (making sure to avoid those three girls) and parked it next to the nearest entrance to the train. Her owl, Athena, gave a little squawk of indignation at the abrupt stop.
"Sorry, Thena." Ophelia said sheepishly. Athena gave her a stern look before tucking her head under her wing.
Ophelia focused on her trunk then. She didn't know exactly how she'd get the massive trunk onto the train. The only way she'd managed to get the trunk onto the cart was thanks to her father who'd taken the majority of the weight from her.
For the next five minutes, Ophelia struggled to lift the heavy trunk onto the weight. After the tenth attempt which ended with Ophelia nearly dropping the trunk on her foot. Angry tears bleared her vision as she took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
"Alright there?" Ophelia blinked the tears away and looked up. A tall boy with ruffled auburn hair and a kind smile stood in front of her with a younger girl behind him. Her hair was a darker red, nearly brown and she had warm hazel-brown eyes.
"I can't get it on the train," Ophelia said sheepishly, hoping her eyes weren't too red.
"Amy had the same problem." The boy jokes, shrugging "Amy" lightly. The girl rolled her eyes and shoved him back. "Here, lemme help." He pulled out a wand and tapped the trunk and in a moment the trunk was light as a feather!
"Wow!" Ophelia said in awe. "I'm Ophelia by the way, Ophelia Granger."
"Nathan Bones, but my friends call me Nate." Nate said cheerfully.
"Head Boy Nate." Amy teased.
"Sod off," Nate jokes. "This is my younger sister, Amelia. She's a first year too."
"Whole family's been in Hufflepuff." Amelia shrugged. "That's what I'm expecting too." Her statement reminded Ophelia of James' "All Slytherins are Death Eaters" mindset.
"Alright, you too can talk about houses in a compartment." Nate said jovially, helping Ophelia with her trunk.
When Ophelia's things were tucked away, Athena snoozed happily near her and both she and Amelia set up in a comfortable compartment, Nate bid them adiue to find his girlfriend and friends.
"Nate's a 'Puff and Annie (Annie Mckinnon, her younger sister is a First Year too) is a 'Claw. They were really happy when they got picked as Head Boy and Girl." Amelia rolled her eyes. "Do you know what house you'd like to be in?"
"I've kind of read through some books about it -" Ophelia paused hesitantly, "I'm a muggleborn - " At Amelia's warm smile in response, Ophelia relaxed and continued. "Gryffindor seems like a good house, or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Just probably not Slytherin, I think. I've heard some … bad things about them."
"My dad says we shouldn't judge by the house," Amelia said wisely, "But he also calls Slytherins a bunch of slimy snakes which seems very hypocritical. My mum would be happy with anything, I think. She just wants me to do well in school."
"Mum's not too big on magic," Ophelia said hesitantly, "But my dad's really proud to have a witch in the family. I told him a bit about the houses and he said he didn't care as long as I was happy."
"Sounds like my mum." Amelia jokes, pausing to frown at her. "Sorry about your mum. There's actually quite a bit of muggle parents that are frightened or confused by magic. That's why the Muggleborn Relocation Act was made."
Ophelia frowned and pushed that away as their conversation turned from her anti-magic mum and towards Quidditch, the magical sport that Ophelia was eager to learn to play. She'd read that they had the sport at the school and got the feeling that First Years weren't often chosen on the team although they were allowed to try out. She was eager to try out flying and maybe even try out for her house team and by the glint in Amelia's eyes, she had the feeling that she was just as eager.
"Nate taught me how to play," She said proudly. "He's the Keeper for Hufflepuff. I prefer the Chaser position, never Seeker though. I'm awful at it."
By the time the train had jolted and started down the tracks, Ophelia was confident that she had found a new friend in Amelia Bones. The girl was smart, witty and kind enough to offer information about the wizarding world that Ophelia didn't know. She'd read about some of the government practices but Amelia seemed to have an in depth view of the Ministry with her father being the head of the DMLE and her mother working in politics as Lady Bones, representative of House Bones. She was even more shocked when she found out that James, her kind-of friend, was the heir of the wealthiest and influential house in Wizarding Britain. There were other notable houses that Amelia warned her about such as House Black, House Wilkes, House Weasley, House Prewitt and House McKinnon (whose first daughter was dating the heir of House Bones).. By the time the sweet trolley appeared, Ophelia's head was swimming.
"Need anything off the trolley, dears?" The kind older witch asked, opening their compartment with a knock and a slide.
Ophelia felt her pockets jingle with the leftover coins from Diagon Alley and her father's comforting words ("Enjoy your time, sweet pea; I love you.) and nodded. "One of everything, ma'am."
"A pack of Bertie's beans and a couple chocolate frogs," Amelia added, shooting Ophelia a grin.
When the woman left, Ophelia had only a few coins left over which she tucked into her pocket just in case she'd need them for later. With a pile of strange candy on her lap, she began tearing apart one of the chocolate frogs.
"Oh watch out!" Amelia cried out and to Ophelia's amazement, the frog jumped out of the package and, just as the compartment door was opening, hit James Potter right in the face.
"James!" Ophelia cried out as the boy stumbled into another dark haired boy, wearing silk black robes. James stumbled a bit before gripping onto the wayward frog and took a massive bite out of its head. The frog instantly stilled.
"Love chocolate frogs," James said jovially after swallowing. "We've been looking for you, Lia. Do you mind?" He motioned to the seat and both girls nodded. James took a seat by Ophelia, knocking knees with her, and the other boy hesitantly sat next to Amelia, keeping his space.
"Amelia Bones, I presume," James said formally, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Heir Potter of House Potter and this is my new friend, Heir Black of House Black."
"I'm not like my bastard family." Heir Black immediately said. Ophelia looked taken aback but Amelia seemed to relax.
"I understand, Heir Black, Heir Potter. Please call me Amelia." She said just as formally.
"Then you must call me James, and Heir Black Sirius." James said tartly. "I see you've met my friend Ophelia. I assume you helped her aboard the train?"
"My brother, Heir Bones, helped her." Amelia nodded. "House Bones stands with muggleborns."
James' eyes twinkled. "Thank you. House Potter thanks you for your kindness."
The entire exchange was very confusing to Ophelia but remembering the former conversation of noble houses caused Ophelia to keep her mouth shut. Sirius Black caught her eye and rolled his striking silver eyes. The eye roll made her giggle, catching James and Amelia's attention.
"Formality is a norm in the wizarding world," Amelia exchanged, shoving Sirius lightly, "Which HE knows."
"Bunch of hogwash if you ask me," Sirius complained before changing his voice to a very formal tone. "Lady Granger, if I may, I offer my friendship in exchange for a delectable chocolate frog."
Ophelia fanned herself playfully. "Why, Lord Black, I accept your offer of friendship." She said dramatically, passing a chocolate frog.
"Wankers!" James said loudly but he began laughing. "Seriously, though, Bones, thanks for helping Ophelia." He glanced at Ophelia. "The Potter family usually helps muggleborns onto the train but our elf accidentally sent one of our letters to the Evans. By the time Mum realized, it was too late. Boy was she furious."
"Professor Mcgonagall told me how to get on the train," Ophelia said reassuredly, "I just wish that my dad could've seen me off." James patted her shoulder sadly.
"That's why my family helps out muggleborns." James explained. "Although, I don't think that Evans girl was very nice," He rolled his eyes. "Kept saying that she wanted to be in slimy Slytherin with her friend."
"Lily'll be a Ravenclaw, I bet." Ophelia said wisely, grinning at his shocked look. "I live two streets down from her, James. You could've walked to my house." James spit out a swear and all of them laughed.
"Dad'll think that's a riot." He sighed. "Next time," He promised Ophelia. She nudged him joyfully before finally looking down at the card she'd received with her chocolate frog. To her surprise, the witch in the photo was moving around and smiling warmly. Her hair was a creamy caramel and she had warm brown eyes.
"Hey, you got Circe." James said cheerfully. "I have like four of her." The witch waved before disappearing out of the card.
"She's left," Ophelia said in disbelief. "Is that - is that normal?"
"Yeah," Amelia shrugged. "She'll come back eventually. Here, I found a Merlin Emrys, you can have it. I have six of him." Ophelia took the card and grinned at the older gentleman with the long, curly beard. He waved at her and she waved back.
"Lily's alright, she's just excited." Ophelia said with a shrug although her cheeky grin told all of them that she was equally excited. "Now what can you tell me about Quidditch?" With a laugh, the three purebloods began excitedly telling the young girl about their favorite sport.
After about twenty minutes of chattering, their excitement had eased a bit and the compartment was stilled with hush conversation. Ophelia was happy to listen to James talk about the major Quidditch teams and his very favorite team, the Montrose Magpies, and his excitement for trying out for one of the Chaser spots on the house teams.
And by the time the two were talking about the god awful Chudley Cannons ("Really just awful!") Ophelia had gotten two more Circe cards, two Morgana cards and a single Dumbledore. She'd also tried the magical jelly beans and had gotten strawberry, honey, licorice, cut grass and jalapeno. The jalapeno one had hurt her tongue and she'd left the rest of the beans to an eager Amelia.
As the treeline began to fade in the window and the sun began to slowly pull downwards, their compartment door abruptly yanked open and Lily Evans appeared in her new school robes with Severus Snape sulking behind her.
"Ophelia, there you are!" Lily said but her bright smile disappeared at the sight of James and Sirius in the compartment. "Oh." She deadpanned.
"Evans," James said in a mocking way. "Ah, and your greasy friend. What was your name again? Snivellus?"
"His name is Severus!" Lily snapped.
"Snivellus sounds better to me, eh James?" Sirius continued, raising an eyebrow.
"Guys," Ophelia said with a scowl. "Knock it off."
James nudged her playfully, eyes lit up in humor. "What do you want, Evans? We're trying to enjoy our frogs." He waved a headless chocolate frog towards Lily.
"I just wanted to check up on Ophelia, make sure she isn't in a compartment with any jerks." Lily sniffed. "Turns out she's sharing one with two of the biggest wankers on this train!" James scowled towards Lily. "And I talked to one of the prefects. We'll be at Hogwarts shortly so I suggest you get dressed." With another huff, Lily slammed the door shut and Ophelia heard her hurry away angrily.
"Ah, she's nice." Amelia said hesitantly.
"She is, I swear!" Ophelia said loudly. She sighed tiredly. "I s'pose we should get dressed, eh?"
With that, James and Sirius disappeared to find their trunks and change and Amelia and Ophelia started changing. They would be at Hogwarts soon!